A tree-lined street at sunset. I lifted my head up and exhaled. White smoke trailed up into the sky and disappeared.

“Cold”.

Every time I exhale from my mouth or my nose, white vapor would come out, disappear and come out again, interestingly enough. It’s easy to forget because there are extreme temperature fluctuations during the day but it’s already winter.

Last year around this time, I’ve always been indoors after all……

A girl I didn’t know who looked that she was feeling very cold, passed me.

She was holding a phone and she seemed happy talking to someone.

“Really, since Miyabi became the student council president, our relationship has become worse. Ahaha, I’m joking, joking. It’s not like I’m angry, but be prepared to treat me to a lot of things”.

Her thighs that were exposed in this cold weather seemed to be very cold.

From her shoulder length hair drifted to me the fragrance of shampoo.

“The student council? Sorry, I’ll pass. I’m not interested in those things. And Miyabi still hasn’t settled things with the former student council president, right? Eh, why are you suddenly confessing to me? I know you’ve already put your hands in a lot of girls”.

I didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but speaking so loudly even if I was unwilling I would still hear the contents. From the content of the conversation I could speculate she was probably a 2nd year girl.

“But… if you win against President Horikita, then I will think about it. Then I’ll see you later”.

When the girl finished the call, she exhaled white breath.

Then she stopped and returned her phone to her pocket.

“That Miyabi guy, getting full of himself. However, President Horikita really is useless. I was expecting him to stop Miyabi. In the end, the game will end with Miyabi’s victory”.

Even though she was talking so happily just until now, she immediately toned down when the call ended.

It was unclear whether she had noticed me when she passed past me, she just left like this.

“Uwatto!?”

However, a minor incident happened.

She probably got entangled, and on the way to the branches of each years dormitory she fell gorgeously.

“It hurts …”

She immediately stood up and then looked around with a slightly red face.

And then it seemed she noticed my existence for the first time walking behind her.

She forced a smile. Slightly embarrassed.

She looked as if she wasn’t injured.

The girl ran away and disappeared in the direction of the 2nd year students’ dorm.

“So she was really a 2nd year student”.

Apparently here at this school, you don’t get much of a chance to intermingle with other school years outside of the student council or club activities. That’s why I never had a chance to familiarize myself with their faces either.

“Girls must feel cold too”.

Occasionally in our classroom, there are students who’d even say they want to jerseys beneath their skirts. I think it should be fine even if they do so but looks like it’s prohibited by the school’s regulations.

Girls sure have it hard too.

The first ‘winter’ I experienced. It’s this cold and somewhere deep down inside, I never thought I’d be able to see this view. There’s a song about a dog that saw snow and excitedly ran about. I can empathize.

If it ever snows, I wonder if I’ll be just as excited.

I exhaled and recalled the events that transpired today. Meeting with my father, the existence of Chairman Sakayanagi and that the policies of the school don’t mean anything.

I also achieved much in seeing through Chabashira-sensei’s lie.

Because with just this alone, I’ll be able to make significant progress forward.

“…shall I put an end to it?”.

So far I’ve mostly kept it behind the scenes but the way the exam results are announced, the more Class D continues to prosper, there’ll be no avoiding malevolent attention.

Inevitably, the surveillance would intensify and you’d be able to investigate who it is that’s at the center of it all. As a matter of fact, although I set up Horikita as that person in the center, Ryuuen realized that it’s faked.

Sakayanagi also knows my past and it’s only a matter of time before Ichinose starts doubting it as well.

If I want to turn back, now’s my only chance. Of course, hasty decisions will lead to ruin so I’ll need to consider both options of advancing and retreating.

And with that, the problem now is how to deal with Ryuuen.

I retrieved my phone from my pocket and manually typed in the address. And then I sent a message to a certain person. Asking them to call me when they’re able to.

When I did, the message was immediately marked as ‘read’.

Looks like that person usually doesn’t hang out with their friends but rather, goes back to the dorm early.

I then manually typed the 11-digit number and made the call.

“Hello?”.

The person behind this languid voice is Karuizawa Kei from Class D of the 1st years.

She doesn’t know it yet but she’s one of the individuals marked by Ryuuen. She’s someone who knows that I’m the one handling Class D behind the scenes, even more than Horikita does.

Of course, she doesn’t know much about just how deeply I’m involved and what I’ve done in detail though. If there’s anything that could be said about me at the moment, it would be that Karuizawa probably sees me as an extremely eerie person.

“I was wondering what you were up to”.

“You’re kidding, right? There’s no way you’d call without a reason”.

I had thought I’d make small talk first but Karuizawa didn’t get it.

“Don’t you ever feel like enjoying our conversation more?”.

“It’s impossible if you yourself don’t feel like enjoying it, right?”.

“…I suppose you’re spot on”.

She’s not the leader of the Class D girls for nothing. She understand people very well.

“Did Manabe and the others make any sort of contact with you?”.

“No. That’s not a problem right now…..did you call me to make sure?”.

Rather than surprise, an exasperated reaction was what I got.

“It’s been a while since then but nothing so far, huh? Looks like there’s no need to worry about that anymore”.

“That’d be for the best but there’s no telling what’ll happen when, right?”.

Looking at it from Karuizawa’s perspective, she wouldn’t truly feel safe until graduation. The wind blew and coldly struck my face.

“You’re still outdoors”.

Perhaps it’s because she heard the sound of the wind over the phone, Karuizawa said that.

“I’m on my way back. You’re pretty fast today yourself. You’re usually late”.

“Even I have days when I want to go back early”.

A prickly response came back.

“Ahh”.

I found something and my voice leaked out.

“What?”.

Karuizawa reacted, thinking that was directed at her.

“No, it’s nothing”.

At the point where the road branches, a red amulet had fallen to the ground where that senior student fell earlier.

I wonder if it’s something that senior student dropped. It may have been better to just leave it there but since snow will be falling today according to the forecast, it’ll get all wet if I leave it be.

Since there’s no sign that she noticed and came back for it, I suppose I’ll just hand it over to the dormitory’s administrator.

“Hey, there’s something I wanted to check with you no matter what. We’re already talking so can I ask?”.

“What do you want to check?”.

Picking up the amulet, I resumed my conversation with Karuizawa while walking towards the dormitory of the 2nd years.

“You’re smart and all so why don’t you let others know about it, or rather, why aren’t you telling them? Class D’s full of idiots so if you come forward like Yousuke-kun, you’d be able to issue orders, no?”.

It’s not hard to imagine why she’d ask something like that.

“I’m smart? What’s your basis for thinking that?”.

“What…..?”.

“My test scores are just average. I’ve never said anything outstandingly useful in class either. There’s nothing for you to base that evaluation off of, right?”.

“That’s not what I’m getting at”.

Of course, I’m aware what Karuizawa’s trying to get at.

So far, I’ve asked Karuizawa for her cooperation in many behind the scenes activities. For instance, sabotaging the peeping as well as the matter with Kushida during Paper Shuffle.

It’s not strange that all in all, she’d think it’s a mystery.

“Things like that, if you’d only made them stand out earlier, your evaluation in class would’ve risen, right? Far from it, you might even end up attracting attention from the school. Just like you did during the sports festival”.

Even though it’s something that has nothing to do with her, Karuizawa excitedly said that.

“You know I’m not the type who desires that sort of thing, don’t you?”.

“Then why are you doing all this? If you wanted it, you could’ve not done anything from the start”.

“That’s a good analysis”.

It’s not like I’m doing all this because I want to either.

“I never had any intention of doing anything in the first place but since a reason came up, I had no choice but to lend Class D a hand”.

This is something I’d normally never speak of but today’s special.

I feel good.

“I feel like it’s somehow a waste though”.

“I have no intention of doing anything up front. I never have and don’t intend on ever doing so either”.

This alone is something I need to emphasize to Karuizawa.

If Class D encounters a problem in the future, it would be problematic if she ends up depending on me.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The one whose blood Ryuuen is out for”.

Not just Sudou and Akito, the surveillance is intensifying each day and those rumors have long since gone beyond just Class D. That Ryuuen got defeated by someone from Class D and is now out for revenge.

The number of students talking about it has gone up.

Karuizawa probably didn’t need any time to realize it’s me.

“The main reason I called you today, Karuizawa, is to apologize to you”.

“Apologize?”.

“Since before I had my own reasons I was helping D Class climb to the top. But that reason has just disappeared”.

“So are you just going to lay low now?”.

“Yeah, I’m going to leave it to Horikita and Hirata to carry the class. I don’t want to get involved with Ryuuen and get exposed. You were a great help to me at the karaoke and a lot of other things. I’ve caused you a lot of trouble”.

“So we’re finally going to stop doing this and I’ll be free?”

“Yeah. That’s how it is”

Until now Karuizawa has served me without hesitation beyond my imagination, that’s why I can now cut her off without hesitation too.

“This will be the last time I contact you”

I clearly said that to her.

“Eh?”.

However, Karuizawa gave a delayed response.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t catch that”.

Is she going to say she didn’t catch that even though the wind isn’t blowing right now?

“This will be the last time I contact you”.

I said the same thing clearly again. This time she should have heard me clearly.

“It’s the natural course of action since there’s nothing I need to ask you to do anymore. I mean, no one knows you and I are connected in the first place, Karuizawa. If we continue to make contact meaninglessly, it would just seem suspicious”.

“Well….that’s true…I guess”.

Karuizawa couldn’t formulate a proper response. Karuizawa seemed confused but I kept talking to her.

“Of course if anything happens to you, I will still protect you. That promise I intend to keep to the end. If you have an emergency situation, I will give you the address to contact me at. But everything other than emergencies, please delete all our chats until now so as to not leave evidence. I’ve already deleted all your messages and contact number on my end”.

“Wait a moment…why are you saying all of this so suddenly?”.

“Why do you ask?”.

“Because….it’s too cold…even for you…..”.

“There’s no cold or anything about it, that’s just the extent of our relationship”.

I protected her from Manabe and her group and if not for that we would never have even known each other like this. The difference between a gloomy student and a popular girl is like that of the heavens and the earth.

“You also hated being used by me, right?”.

“That’s true, but……”.

Karuizawa kept stumbling on her words. And what’s more, her silences grew longer.

“I’ve said all I wanted to say. Do you have anything you’d like to say to me?”.

I shouldn’t drag this out. I pressed the confused Karuizawa to say something.

“…alright”.

A tense reply that’s far from convinced but a reply is a reply. But perhaps she’s finally realized there’s nothing she can do about it, as she continued speaking.

“Is this the last time I can talk to Kiyotaka like this?”.

“Do you dislike that?”.

“Of course not”.

“Then there’s no problem”.

I indifferently and silently continued. I never let the slightest bit of emotion in. There’s no way it would be there either.

“Then I’m ending the call…..”.

Karuizawa also probably felt that strongly over the phone. As I ended the call, I said this.

“See you”.

“ahh………..”.

Karuizawa said something at the very end but didn’t follow up on that. I wanted a few seconds then I cut the call. Then I erased the call history and put the phone back in my pocket.

Karuizawa must have felt at peace being with me like a parasite. And if I were to suddenly go away, her heart will be strongly shaken. Anxiety and loneliness will gradually build up inside her day to day. And if Ryuuen were to target her while she’s at her weakest. I’m sure Karuizawa Kei’s heart will collapse completely.

“I guess this means I can return to the trajectory I started on when I first came to this school”.

I no longer care about Horikita, Karuizawa, Ryuuen or Sakayanagi. I will no longer actively participate in exams anymore too. If there’s a problem, it’s not mine. But if there are problems, ‘cooperators’ are still necessary.

I entrusted the administrator of the dormitory with the amulet that appears to be that 2nd year’s personal belonging, then returned to my dormitory room.

7

I removed the wet sheet that had absorbed the garbage starting from the top and threw it in the trash. When I sat down on my bed after washing my hands, the sound of a spring reverberated faintly.

Since the end of the year is at hand, I decided to clean my room over the weekends. I never had anything in this room in the first place so half a day was all it took to wrap it up.

“A clean room is such a nice thing to have”.

I wonder if I’ve succeeded in bringing back that shine the room had when I first set foot in it. I switched the kettle on and sought a brief respite. I’m slightly hesitant about using the newly polished, glittering cup but there’s no way around it.

I took out my phone and tried accessing the school app. Class points and personal balances and the such are displayed there and I stared at them aimlessly. Deciding that I’ll do so until the water boils, I tried sorting out my own future in that time.

Let’s start from the very beginning.

Why I even enrolled at this school in the first place? It’s so that I won’t have to return to the place I came from. It’s not like I particularly dislike my life in the White Room or anything.

In terms of human rights, it’s a very problematic place but at the very least, it’s true that the best education you can possibly receive lies there.

Thanks to that, I was able to form my own unique personality and acquire a convenient skillset. However, I felt an indescribable discontent at being hailed as the ultimate masterpiece by my father.

Even if I am the ultimate human being…..is that really something I should be overjoyed about?

It’s precisely because I’ve always lived my life believing there’s something that needs to be learnt that studying became meaningful. But what happens when there’s nothing left to learn?

That would be excruciatingly boring.

But I suppose I couldn’t care less about that. I should think about what I plan on doing next. I knew my father would make contact with me one day. That was something I had already known from the moment Chabashira-sensei threatened me with expulsion during the summer.

Of course, even back then, I had my doubts. Because if my father does make contact with me, the matter of Chabashira-sensei protecting me or not goes right out the window.

He’s not the sort of man a mere class teacher would be able to deal with. But, knowing my father, I couldn’t entirely rule it out as a lie either. Due to that, I put up a cooperative front and executed several strategies in the name of rising to Class A.

I started hearing the sound of water boiling in the kettle.

However, by coming this far I was able to determine that Chabashira-sensei’s claims are based on a lie. Strangely enough, it was because my father made his presence known.

The most important thing here is not the fact that she has no connection to my father.

It’s that I was able to determine that her threat of ‘expelling me unless I give it my all’ is a lie. Chabashira Sae carries a deep trauma from her past and wishes to rise to Class A.

Just like Horikita and Keisei. No, she’s probably more obsessed with Class A than either of them.

A person like that won’t have the courage to expel someone from their class. No, at first I had considered the possibility of her performing a suicide run because until after the island exam, Class D was in an extremely disadvantageous position.

It wasn’t a situation where one could cling onto hope in.

She probably felt like doing that if she couldn’t make use of me. That is why I was able to see through the lies weaved into those words of truth. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, her ability to issue orders to me is rapidly fading away.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Class A or Class D, as long as I only aim to achieve 3 years of an ordinary school life then involving myself any deeper with the class than this is just a bother.

As a matter of fact, people like Ichinose and Sakayanagi are already beginning to develop an interest in me. However, if I can successfully fade out now then they should lose interest in me right away.

If there’s a problem left then that would have to be Ryuuen.

If he gets all the way to me then he may use that fact as a means of stirring up our surroundings. That is why it’s best to avoid having my identity revealed. But that’s probably no longer possible.

Even if I end my relationship with Karuizawa Kei, that invisible ‘thread’ between us remains.

If left to his own devices, Ryuuen will definitely grab hold of that thread one day.

A week later? Or perhaps a month later? Or maybe a year later?

That uncertain ‘someday’ is a problem for me. As the water began boiling and the notification sound rang out, the kettle turned itself off automatically.

“…I suppose I’ll have some tea”.

Since I used to have many visitors, my cabinets are overflowing with tea bags. Coffee and black tea as well as green tea. I have a wide variety of them. I placed the black tea bag in the cup just as a call for me came from the 1st floor.

“The 1st floor?”.

If they’re a classmate of mine then they would’ve simply rung my doorbell directly. No helping it. I went to check on it and there I saw an unexpected face. I could’ve pretended to be out but I’d like to keep things honest here.

Because the man I was considering going out to meet came all the way here himself after all.

“I’d like to borrow a bit of your time. Or should I come back later?”.

“…..not really. Now’s as good a time as any”.

To think this sort of uncommon visitor would come. The one I could see through the monitor is Horikita’s brother, who had been student council president until a while ago.

I unlocked the automatic lock and welcomed him into the dormitory. Meanwhile, I poured the boiling water into the cup with the tea bag in it.

Not too long after that, the doorbell rang.

“I’d rather not talk standing so please come in”.

“Likewise”.

If Horikita sees this, she’d definitely complain about it. Also, I’d like to avoid being seen with the former student council president by other students as much as possible.

I invited the older Horikita into my room.

Upon entering the room, the older Horikita noticed the presence of the black tea immediately.

“I was just thinking about drinking some”.

“For a 1st year, you sure tidy up after yourself”.

“I just don’t have any personal belongings”.

There’s no need to go out of my way to tell him I just tidied it up today. Unfortunately though, by looking at the wet sheets faintly sticking out of the trash, he’d be able to tell that I cleaned the room either today or yesterday.

“Coming all the way over to the 1st year dorm. Do you have business with me, former student council president?”.

“The second semester will end next week. I don’t have much time left at this school”.

The actual time he’ll be attending school, after subtracting the weekends, will amount to roughly two more months. It’ll pass in the blink of an eye.

“There’s something I want to inform you of before I leave this school. It’s about Nagumo Miyabi”.

Nagumo Miyabi. I don’t think I need an explanation but he’s the current student council president from Class A of the 2nd years. I only know him from the sports festival and the welcome ceremony for the newcomers but he seems like a rather dark person to me.

But regardless of what Nagumo may be, that has nothing to do with me.

“I doubt you have anything to say to a mere 1st year student like me. I’m not part of the student council either like Ichinose is”.

I explained that but the older Horikita continued without paying me any mind.

“I had no intention of discussing this with anyone else either but the circumstances have changed a bit”.

The circumstances have changed, huh?

“I maintained the traditions this school was founded on because I believed in the rules of the system and felt that this is the correct path. However, Nagumo is trying to overturn it all. In all probability, next year you’ll be faced with an unprecedented amount of expulsions”.

He has yet to act openly as part of the student council but I suppose it’s only a matter of time.

“When Nagumo was still a 1st year, you were already the student council president, weren’t you? If so, aren’t you the one responsible for recruiting him?”.

“That may be the case”.

The older Horikita accepted it without any denial.

“After joining the student council, I made a single mistake. That would be my repeated failures in training my successor. The only one who I noticed any talent in was Nagumo but he ended up developing ideals different from my own. The other 2nd years too are all under Nagumo’s control”.

“That’s strange, I can understand Nagumo controlling 2nd year’s Class A but the other classes should be his enemies, right?”.

“He’s already conquered the entire school year”.

I don’t know what strategies he’s been executing but looks like he really is doing something that absurd.

“This year, among the 1st years, two applied for a position at the student council. Katsuragi and Ichinose. Both of them are promising, talented students but I ended up not letting them join. It’s precisely because their talents are so pure that I feared Nagumo would end up influencing them. But Nagumo gathered information behind the scenes and made contact with Ichinose and as a result, he forcibly invited Ichinose into the student council”.

“What are you planning by telling me all this?”.

“If you don’t want to stand out then use Suzune. Just like you’ve done in your exams so far, manipulate Suzune from behind the scenes. I will be the bridge between you and the student council”.

“That’s a rather unreasonable request. If you’re in the council, your sister would gladly join but now that you’ve stepped down, your sister no longer holds any interest in the council. Besides, regardless of whether your sister joins the council or not, I won’t do anything”.

After a brief interval, I sipped some tea.

“That tradition you and your predecessors have protected. Any change to it would just either be the times changing or fate, wouldn’t you say?”.

I don’t even need to say that. This man should already understand that.

“That’s right. You may be spot on”.

There are still things I don’t understand from this conversation but there are also things I’ve begun to comprehend. As a student enrolled here, the older Horikita wishes to stop the actions of the student council that will be occurring next year.

As such, he thinks he’ll be able to make use of me conveniently. That’s why he chased me all the way over to the 1st year dormitory.

“Looks like I’ve disturbed you”.

Even though he knows he won’t be able to entice me without any tools of his own. It may just be that he no longer has room to care about things like that.

“For the record, do you mind giving me your contact number?”.

“What?”.

I unplugged my phone from the charger and took it in hand.

“I’d like some time to think about putting your sister in the student council and manipulating her from behind”.

“So you’ll consider it?”.

“So you came expecting me to turn you down. I’ll look bad if I don’t at least think it through”.

By showing him this unexpectedly positive reaction, the older Horikita felt disbelief. However, he did tell me his contact number without any hesitation. It’s probably proof that he’s just that wary of Nagumo Miyabi’s student council.

“If I ever consider cooperating with you, I’ll contact you”.

“I’ll be waiting without any expectations”.

In the end, the older Horikita never sat down and never took a sip of the tea before leaving my room.

“I don’t think there’s a need to be so hung up over the student council though”.

It’s pointless worrying about a person who’s about to graduate in a few months but I still felt some concern.

8

Late at night on Saturday, news that falling snow has been observed in this region for the first time circulated. It appears the snow that had only fallen slightly melted away in the morning but remnants of it remained behind as a puddle of water on the concrete.

Furthermore, despite the fact that it had snowed on the previous day, the highest temperature for the day was only 24 degrees Celsius, roughly the temperature of a summer day.

This sort of weather would allow you to go out with short sleeves without it being a problem.

“The second semester’s finally over next week, huh? I really don’t have much time awareness”.

On Sunday, I went to check on Akito in the morning while he’s in the middle of his club activities. And on the way back, I invited Akito and together with the Ayanokouji Group, we hung out at Keyaki Mall until evening.

We went shopping randomly, talked idly at the cafe. Then we had lunch and had fun at the karaoke.

It was a day where I had fun doing what ordinary students usually do.

“By the way…ahem. Ahh—my throat hurts”.

“Five consecutive songs is overkill, Yukimu~. But you were surprisingly good though”.

“…the reason my throat’s hurting is because of the punishment game though”.

Pointing out the reason for his sore throat, Keisei glared at Haruka bitterly. The karaoke menu offers a variety of foods but some of them were always meant to be eaten in a punishment game.

It’s easy to spot them when out of six takoyaki variations, only one of them is spicy. It’s a game where the one who draws it has to eat the entire spicy takoyaki and then sing immediately afterwards.

But the rule is that you aren’t allowed to drink water until after you’ve sung. I don’t know the meaning behind it but since we had fun, I suppose it’s fulfilled its purpose as a game.

But I do suppose it’s far too harsh to be called a game. Calling it a ‘punishment game’ would be more appropriate. Since Keisei continued to draw the spicy takoyaki, we found it interesting and tried to see just how many he’d continue to draw consecutively. The result was five times.

That number sounds like nothing out of the ordinary but the probability of that happening is actually 1 out of 7776.

“Such misfortune…”.

“On the contrary, aren’t you in luck? You managed to spend all your misfortunes for the year in one go. Surely you’ve got plenty of good things waiting for you this year”.

“No such thing, this year’s ending in roughly two weeks…..you said it on purpose, Haruka”.

Haruka laughs herself silly but she still apologized to the unhappy Keisei.

“Sorry, sorry. Was it that bad?”.

“I thought I was breathing fire for a moment there…..even spicy’s got to have a limit”.

Keisei stuck out his tongue, perhaps he’s still feeling the spice.

“By the way, I also had it real bad since I tried protect him by drawing the last one”.

The one who prevented Keisei from getting six consecutive draws was Akito.

“Then let’s do it again next time we go to the karaoke”.

At this proposal, the three of them including Airi looked appalled.

“I’m fine with that, but you’ll have to eat it properly too if you get it”.

“Ok, ok. There’s no way the one proposing it is going to chicken out”.

She’s clearly not afraid to draw the spicy one. Of course, I’m sure she also doesn’t think there’s no way she’d end up drawing it either.

“Looks like you’ve got a fair bit of confidence in handling difficult things”.

I tried getting to the root of the confidence Haruka kept displaying.

“Ahh, cat’s out of the bag?”.

“You weren’t even trying to hide it though…..”.

“I can even handle super spicy ramen easily. On the contrary, that’s how I like it, I guess?”.

I feel like the punishment game doesn’t even apply to her anymore though……

“I wonder if I can eat it all…”.

Airi said so, having felt anxious ever since before the game started.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. If it’s ever too much, you can just spit it out. The boys probably don’t want to force Airi through something unreasonable either”.

That’s exactly right. Neither Akito or Keisei will insist on that unreasonable request either.

“This also applies for Yukimu~ but Airi’s a great singer. Is this really your first time at the karaoke?”.

“Y-Yeah. It was really embarrassing though……”.

“If you had a little more power behind your voice it would’ve been perfect”.

Despite her bashfulness, Airi gave it her all.

“Then shall we head back?”.

9

We were on our way back from that fulfilling karaoke session. It’s still not 5 o’clock in the evening yet the sun had already begun to set.

“The whole day was pretty warm so there are a lot of people wearing light clothing, aren’t there?”.

“You could even go with short sleeves during the afternoon. So I guess that’s understandable”.

Today’s pretty warm and everyone’s wearing light clothing after all. But it’ll probably turn chilly in around an hour.

“I don’t handle the cold very well”.

Looking up at the sky, Haruka said so gloomily. If at all possible, I’d like the weather to remain the way it was today.

“I don’t handle it well either……”.

“For me, the cold’s a bit better because that’d mean I won’t sweat as much during club activities”.

Among us, Akito’s probably the only one who’d prefer the winter.

“Looks like it’ll be cold again starting tomorrow”.

“I see. That means I’ll have to make various preparations. Seems like my expenses are going to go up”.

The closer we get to year’s end, it basically seems like it’ll start snowing more and more. Because we were chatting, our group’s pace slowed down and we could hear a voice from behind us.

“Thank you for accompanying me today, Sakayanagi-san”.

“No, no. The pleasure’s all mine”.

That little back-and-forth. When I turned around, I spotted an unusual duo: Ichinose and Sakayanagi.

Noticing our group, Ichinose raised her hand and hailed us. Sakayanagi didn’t look at me in particular but rather, simply acknowledged our group as a whole. Despite doing something akin to declaring war on me, she’s yet to show any sign of making a move since the sports festival.

However, no matter what happens, Sakayanagi’s wish won’t come true in the future either.

“That’s a rather unusual group, Ayanokouji-kun”.

“…really?”.

That’s my line no matter how you look at it.

Class A and Class B. To think the leaders of opposing classes would be together on a weekend.

“The way I see it, you’re mostly with Horikita-san so this all looks a bit new to me”.

Ichinose said so while looking around at the group members.

“Speaking of which, you beat Class C in the exam the other day, didn’t you? Congratulations”.

The results of Paper Shuffle are released to all classes.

Of course, that also applies for the results of the confrontation between Class A and Class B too.

“We lost though—“.

“There was only a two point difference between us. I think we were evenly matched”.

In response to those results, Sakayanagi added that. The two upper classes had a magnificent showdown but it appears Class B couldn’t quite catch up to Class A and so Class A monopolized the top spot for themselves.

They definitely widened the gap.

“The fact that Class D won would mean you may become Class C starting from the third semester”.

“We also need to be on our guard, or Class B might also get overtaken”.

“Of course, we fully intend on overtaking you”.

In response to Ichinose’s joking laughter, Keisei interjected seriously.

“And eventually, we will become Class A”.

When Keisei said those words, Sakayanagi closed her eyes and laughed faintly.

Keisei didn’t think much of that behavior but we’re still Class D right now. He should know that acting tough here is a pointless thing to do.

However, I should say that the lineup’s not very good because none of us are particularly friendly with Ichinose. On top of that, since we aren’t the type to make small talk or forced smiles, the conversation ended up coming to a halt. Ichinose came to realize that they’re not welcome here.

“Ahaha, might we be disturbing you? See you all later”.

“Please excuse us”.

Sakayanagi, without ever once speaking to me or making eye contact with me, followed Ichinose and left. Looks like she won’t mess up and drop any hints here.

“They’re rivals, aren’t they? Those two, I mean”.

“Leaving aside whether that’s the appropriate way to describe them, there’s no doubt that they’re enemies”.

Keisei suspiciously pushed his glasses up and stared at their backs.

“As expected of Ichinose, wouldn’t you say?”.

It’s already a well-known fact that Ichinose is someone who can make friends with any student.

“How should I put it, Ichinose-san really is something else…….”.

Airi muttered.

“As a fellow woman, I don’t like her”.

“Haruka, do you hate Ichinose?”.

“I don’t particularly hate her. I don’t like her either, of course. It’s just, how should I put it, she’s way too perfect at everything and way too ideal. There’s no charm in that unless there’s a couple of weaknesses here and there, don’t you think? I suppose I should say I hope she’s actually rotten on the inside……”.

“You do have a point. Having no weaknesses at all makes her seem creepy on the contrary. But I think hoping she’s actually rotten on the inside is going a bit too far though”.

Akito nodded, as though he agreed with the points Haruka made.

“That’s true but what I’m saying is that being perfect and flawless is lame. Even in manga”.

Putting her hands inside her pocket, Haruka stared at Ichinose’s back.

“I……might actually want a person like that to actually exist. Because if Ichinose-san is really a bad person like Haruka-chan said just now, no one would believe it”.

As though she’d rather not have that be true, Airi seemed anxious.

“I suppose so. There’s probably an unbelievably perfect and kind person somewhere out there in the world. We may just not be aware that they’re close by”.

Haruka added that as a follow up.

“We’re going to be Class C soon. When that happens, Ichinose will become our next enemy. And when that happens, she’ll become an enemy we must defeat no matter what. I think it’s best to not defend her too much”.

Keisei’s right. If Ichinose is an upstanding person, that would just make the fight that much harder for us.

If you’re someone who’s openly evil, like Ryuuen, then no one would bother feeling anything unnecessary for you. However, in Ichinose’s case, I wonder if our class can go against her without holding back.

“…many difficulties lie ahead, huh?”.

If we get promoted to the upper classes, we’ll inevitably have to face that fight. We will also probably get attacked from behind by Ryuuen and the others, who would attempt to catch back up.

It’s still uncertain what will happen to the cooperative relationship between Horikita and Ichinose in the future either.

Ideally speaking, we’d keep our alliance with Ichinose and the others and then lay siege to Class A. And then we’ll end the alliance when our class and Ichinose have risen up to Class B and Class A respectively.

Of course, I doubt things will be that simple.